April 28, 2009
THE PHONE CALL
I got a telephone call today that really struck me as funny. It was the dialog I’ve been waiting for! There’s a website called XtraNormal that allows you to easily make an animated movie from your own script, so perhaps you would like to hear it for yourself:
<embed src = "http://www.xtranormal.com/players/embedded-xnl-stats.swf" width = "1" height = "1" allowscriptaccess = "always"
April 26, 2009
DRILLING FOR BLACK GOLD
Today my son taught me how to use a drill. It gave me the thrill of riding on a roller coaster and I laughed aloud with maniacal glee! The power of it, punching holes with a roar!
We “made” two compost bins out of plastic trash cans by drilling holes into them. For years I’ve tried to make compost by having two bins created by skids, but all I’ve been doing is feeding the trees. The trees send roots over and up through the compost, making it a tightly woven pile of tiny roots, much like an overgrown potted plant.
Lately I’ve been noticing posts of other folks, who use the easy plastic trash can approach, so we’re on our way to a new (and hopefully more aesthetic) method.
BEFORE
AFTER
It was terrible fun.
April 26, 2009
DRILLING FOR BLACK GOLD
Today my son taught me how to use a drill. It gave me the thrill of riding on a roller coaster and I laughed aloud with maniacal glee! The power of it, punching holes with a roar!
We “made” two compost bins out of plastic trash cans by drilling holes into them. For years I’ve tried to make compost by having two bins created by skids, but all I’ve been doing is feeding the trees. The trees send roots over and up through the compost, making it a tightly woven pile of tiny roots, much like an overgrown potted plant.
Lately I’ve been noticing posts of other folks, who use the easy plastic trash can approach, so we’re on our way to a new (and hopefully more aesthetic) method.
AFTER
April 20, 2009
WRITING AWARD
I have won a writing award; I’m so excited!
Scribbit (who writes about Motherhood in Alaska) hosted an April Write-Away Contest with the topic of MOM and I was awarded First Runner-Up (Honorable Mention)!
Antique Mommy was the judge of this particular contest; I highly recommend running over to her place to read her sometimes hilarious/sometimes touching/always moving/ blog as well.
If you’re interested in seeing my winning post, click over to this spot: SUNDAY NAP.
April 20, 2009
WRITING AWARD
Scribbit (who writes about Motherhood in Alaska) hosted an April Write-Away Contest with the topic of MOM and I was awarded First Runner-Up (Honorable Mention)!
Antique Mommy was the judge of this particular contest; I highly recommend running over to her place to read her sometimes hilarious/sometimes touching/always moving/ blog as well.
If you’re interested in seeing my winning post, click over to this spot: SUNDAY NAP.
April 18, 2009
DANCIN’ WHILE WE TALK
My younger son and I are done with speech and debate class for the year…till I start working on speech and debate class for next year…which will probably be next week!
Snapfish sent a special coupon for folks who like to print out their photos, so I’ve been obliged to sort through the large volume of what I have in the hopes of making some sort of sense of it all. Although the lighting was poor at our last speech tournament, I still enjoy looking at what we did in the evenings for relaxation–English Country Dance, of course!
I took this while I was calling a dance:
The 3-day tournament was held in a retreat center that used to be a live-in school. So we all slept in the dorms and fellowshipped throughout its entirety.
But most of the time, we worked!
April 18, 2009
DANCIN’ WHILE WE TALK
My younger son and I are done with speech and debate class for the year…till I start working on speech and debate class for next year…which will probably be next week!
Snapfish sent a special coupon for folks who like to print out their photos, so I’ve been obliged to sort through the large volume of what I have in the hopes of making some sort of sense of it all. Although the lighting was poor at our last speech tournament, I still enjoy looking at what we did in the evenings for relaxation–English Country Dance, of course!
I took this while I was calling a dance:
The 3-day tournament was held in a retreat center that used to be a live-in school. So we all slept in the dorms and fellowshipped throughout its entirety.
But most of the time, we worked!
April 16, 2009
GULF SHORES, ALABAMA
What with rushing back into life as soon as I got home, I never had the opportunity to tell about the Mom’s Day Out I had at the end of February: I spent a week at the oceanside with my parents.
I had my own bedroom. My own bathroom. My own television (with cable). How. About. That.
For the past several years, my parents have spent some winter time in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Up until recently, Gulf Shores has been a mix of wild natural places and small condos. They stayed at a place called The Lighthouse, a condo that was a small family in and of itself, where everyone went down for coffee in the morning, doors were unlocked, and every person knew every other.
But new owners tore it down and replaced it with something that no one can afford, and its former snowbirds are scattered in other places now (although they still have monthly get-togethers).
The new Lighthouse (photo from vrwd.com)
In 2004, Hurricane Ivan came to change the look of things.
The exciting thing about that event is that now everything is new: the sidewalks, the roads, the buildings-everything!
The not-so-thrilling side of it is that everything is bigger and more commercial.
Here I am in front of the last remaining building crane:
April 16, 2009
GULF SHORES, ALABAMA
What with rushing back into life as soon as I got home, I never had the opportunity to tell about the Mom’s Day Out I had at the end of February: I spent a week at the oceanside with my parents.
I had my own bedroom. My own bathroom. My own television (with cable). How. About. That.
For the past several years, my parents have spent some winter time in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Up until recently, Gulf Shores has been a mix of wild natural places and small condos. They stayed at a place called The Lighthouse, a condo that was a small family in and of itself, where everyone went down for coffee in the morning, doors were unlocked, and every person knew every other.
But new owners tore it down and replaced it with something that no one can afford, and its former snowbirds are scattered in other places now (although they still have monthly get-togethers).
The new Lighthouse (photo from vrwd.com)
In 2004, Hurricane Ivan came to change the look of things.
The exciting thing about that event is that now everything is new: the sidewalks, the roads, the buildings-everything!
The not-so-thrilling side of it is that everything is bigger and more commercial.
Here I am in front of the last remaining building crane:
April 9, 2009
BUTTER LAMBS
Years ago when my husband and I lived in Buffalo, New York, there was (and still is) a big Polish Catholic tradition of purchasing butter in the shape of a lamb for your Easter celebration.
I don’t ban the bunnies, but I feel a lot happier with a few lambs and crosses around my house, especially at this time of the year. Those sorts of things are getting more difficult to find nowadays on account of having to make store shelf room for the camouflage plastic eggs and the Barbie tin pails that someone out there feels is a MUST-HAVE for your modern egg hunt (I have to admit that those little rubber duckies they have this year are adorable!).
So when we lived in Buffalo, I joyously bought my butter lamb every year. When we left Buffalo, I was very sad to have no more. So I make my own now.
Some people make a “wooly” lamb by making the butter all squiggly through a garlic press, but I just use a plastic mold that you might buy for making chocolate lambs. I have 2 kinds: one has a front and a back that makes a whole lamb, and the other is for chocolate lollipops–the front of a lamb without a back.
You can purchase a whole lamb mold at a baking supplies shop or at the Polish Art Center.
Here’s how to make a butter lamb!
1. Using clean hands or the tip of a table knife, press semi-firm butter into the molds. Keep looking on the front-side as you’re pressing, to make sure you get the air bubbles out.
2. Scrape the back-sides level, wipe off the excess around the edges, and attach the two sides together.
3. Put in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
4. Carefully take the lamb out of the mold. Using a knife and/or paper towel, trim the excess off the seams.
5. Traditionally, peppercorns are used for the eyes; I melt a few chocolate chips and use a toothpick to paint the eyes.
6. Traditionally, the lamb has a bow or sash, and a toothpick flag with a red cross is placed in his back. I usually put a red or purple ribbon bow on mine, using melted chocolate to attach it.
May you have a blessed Easter, Friends!
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” ~~Isaiah 53:6
The Chickadee Feeder 